The traditional scientific classifications group together, under the term “plant,” several lines of living organisms which, according to the etymological origin of the term, vegetate.
Plants consist of cells organized in leaves, sterns, roots, flowers and seeds. Plant cells are characterized by a plant cell wall made from cellulose. All plant cells have a thin and flexible primary membrane which, when the cells come together, form a much thicker and rigid so-called secondary wall. The cells are then glued to each other by a pectin-rich middle gill. While the primary wall is made up of cellulose, hemicellulose, pectin, various proteins, and polysaccharides acting as binders between the various cellulose fibers, the secondary wall is much thicker and richer in cellulose than the primary membrane. It contains lignin, which is a hydrophobic polyphenolic polymer that makes the secondary wall rigid and relatively impermeable to water and solvents.
Whole plants or plant parts are sources of various ingredients and biologically active molecules that are widely used to nourish, treat, perfume, and improve the hygiene and beauty of human beings. These substances of interest may be extracted from plants and plant parts using various physical methods.
However, the industrial and personal extraction (during the preparation of a cup of tea or herbal tea, for example) is not always easy. In fact, it is generally incomplete, in particular due to walls, bark, ribs and fibers of the plants, but in particular because the walls of the plant cells, and in particular the lignin and cellulose fibers, oppose the extraction of the substances of interest located in the plant cells, in particular in the various vacuoles and organelles, such as nuclei, mitochondria, chloroplasts, endoplasmic reticula, ribosomes and Golgi bodies, among others.
That is why a certain number of more or less brutal treatments must generally be applied to the plants or plant parts before their extraction so as to break down the physical barrier made up of the walls of the plant cells. Methods making it possible to eliminate the aforementioned obstacles in particular include: threshing, drying, desiccation, grinding, freezing, cryogrinding, pelletizing (extrusion), enzyme treatment (for example by cellulases, hemicellulases, pectinases, hydrolases), and very high pressure destructuring (500 to 5000 bars), sonication, in particular to favor the extraction of the substances of interest sought.
However, these treatments often prove completely or partially destructive for the components, in particular biologically active components, contained in the plant cells.
There is therefore a real need to improve the personal extraction, i.e., to obtain substances of interest easily and quickly that are located at the heart of the cells of the plants and with the highest possible output coupled with minimal deterioration of said substances. The invention therefore aims to seek the most complete possible personal extraction, thereby making it possible to increase the content level of the retrieved substances, which are originally contained in a plant cell, relative to the solutions existing in the prior art.
The present invention therefore relates to a method for producing articles impregnated with at least one plant substance from at least one plant, characterized in that it comprises the following steps:
a) Extraction and/or pressing of at least one plant (V1), or at least one part of said plant, producing a liquid plant extract (E1) and a solid fibrous residue (R1), then
b) Separation of said plant extract (E1) from said fibrous residue (R1), and
c) Destructuring of said fibrous residue (R1),
d) Production of a fibrous web or of an article made from the fibrous residue (R1) obtained in step c), and
e) impregnation of said fibrous residue (R1) with (i) at least said plant extract (E1), which is optionally concentrated, purified, flavored and/or fragranced, with (ii) at least one water-soluble or liposoluble plant substance isolated from said plant extract (E1), with (iii) at least one composition comprising at least one optionally concentrated, purified, flavored and/or fragranced water-soluble or liposoluble substance of said plant extract (E1), or with (iv) at least one plant extract (E2) or at least one composition comprising at least one optionally concentrated, purified, flavored and/or fragranced water-soluble or liposoluble substance of said plant extract (E2), resulting from an extraction or pressing of a plant (V2) different from said plant (V1).
According to one embodiment of said method, step c) precedes step d), which in turn precedes step e).
Lastly, according to another embodiment of said method, step c) precedes step e), which precedes step d).
The invention also relates to an article of plant origin comprising a compact, homogenous solid structure of plant fibers, said structure being impregnated with at least one plant extract, which is optionally concentrated, purified, flavored, colored and/or fragranced, (ii) at least one water-soluble or liposoluble plant substance isolated from a plant extract, or (iii) at least one composition comprising at least one water-soluble or liposoluble substance of a plant extract that may optionally be concentrated, purified, flavored, colored and/or fragranced.